


Max and Ruby

by universal_disastr



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: F/M, M/M, The power of friendship, slow burn Survivor/Preston
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-31
Updated: 2018-03-31
Packaged: 2019-04-16 12:10:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14164557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/universal_disastr/pseuds/universal_disastr
Summary: Ruby was a fake husband with witness protection, Max was a CIT graduate with 2 degrees in engineering. Then the bombs fell. Waking 200 years later they find broken pieces of the world and their lives. The Wasteland doesn't show kindness often, but maybe that's all it needs. Follow Max and Ruby as they rebuild the Minutemen and themselves.[An AU with two non-canon survivors just trying not to die and maybe find their way home.]





	Max and Ruby

**Author's Note:**

> This is an unedited fic I do in my spare time so updates might be slow!
> 
> Please enjoy! Thanks!

$50,000 in school debt.

A bachelors degree.

A masters degree.

A future internship that people could only dream of. 

What had these things gotten her? Max wondered that as she watched the shockwave of dust and radiation hurtle towards them at a 100 miles per hour and as the sun disappeared behind a sealed door above her. Darkness briefly consumed them and Max heard the gentle cry of a baby a few feet away. Quickly hushed by some cooing from their parents.When the lights came back on she had to squint a little as the grate lifted and followed the group ahead of her. The preparedness of the techies felt ...odd. She supposed their jobs had literally depended on this eventuality but it was different to go from a world where you laughed at your parents insistence you apply even if they can't to one where you’re cowering in a bunker. 

Puffing up a little she tried to ignore the procession of couples. Squeezing past griefing people she also ignores the tight feeling that had all but taken over her chest. She barely even noticed the others around her as a doctor ushered her into a changing stall. She put the suit on, but put her CIT bomber over it. When the doctor opened his mouth to say something she just sniffled pathetically enough he shook his head gestured towards the decompression pods. Max narrowed her eyes at the tubes coming out the sides but decided to just go with the flow till the real orientation. When the window started to fog up Max realized she really needed to be more assertive. 

When she woke again it was to a stiff chest and a stuck door. Coughing against the feeling in her chest Max was surprised to be caught by a pair of arms as she tumbled out the now opening pod. She continued to cough for a moment as someone shushed her in their shaking arms. When she finally regained control she looked up and found the father of the crying baby staring at her. He’d looked rather shaken up.

“I don’t think those were decompression pods.” she blurted in a raspy voice. Leaning back her companion ran a hand over his face and sniffled.

“Nah, I don’t think so…” he said and glanced over the only pod that was open...and not empty. Whoever in there wasn’t moving. Max looked from the pod back to whoever this was.

“It looks like ours we’re the only ones left down here.” He said quietly and Max sat there in the cold and the silence of the vault for a moment, looking around at all the pods, still full. Taking a deep breath she slowly got to her feet and meandered to the computer. 

“My names Max.” She said simply and started looking through the logs. 

“Nate-no. Ruby...you can call me Ruby.” She heard him get up as he said and she looked over her shoulder. Wondering why the dead body in the open was any better than the dead bodies in the room with them. Packed in like canned tuna. The jacket suddenly didn't feel like it was doing her any good as she shivered. Looking through the raw data Max was growing increasingly concerned. 

“Well, Ruby, it looks like we were uh, put on ice. So to speak.” Max ignored the date, there was no way this experiment had lasted 200 years. Walking to the door she peered out into the hallway. “Where’s the staff?” she asked out loud as she ignored the sound of a pod closing and Ruby sidled up behind her. 

“Not here, why would they let their science experiment go so haywire?” She could hear the bitterness under the surface. For the first time it occurred to Max that Ruby could have killed his wife and she took a nervous breath and looked over her shoulder. 

“Hey, Ruby. I know you probably don’t want to talk about it, but before we leave do you uh, want to tell me what happened to...” she finished by gesturing back and then realized, the baby was unaccounted for.

“Someone knew we were in here. Someone came down here and took Shaun from Nora. Someone shot Nora, and that someone is going to pay.” Ruby said, moving past her into the hallway and walking up to the door they’d entered the wing in. he smacked it and Max followed with one last glance back to the room of bodies. Only to look to their left and find another room. Everything was dark but the outlines of the pods was clear enough. As well as the fact that the room had been without sufficient power for some time. She squinted and adjusted her glasses when she saw a shadow shuffle to the right. Only to jump when Ruby grabbed her arm.

“We can’t stay here. They might be back. Called me the back-up so I don’t know what they might consider you.” He said heading for the door at the end of the hallway they’d entered through. It didn’t budge, the button just gave a few sad little beeps as Ruby smacked it and Max could feel his fingers bruising her arm through the sleeve. As Ruby sighed he finally clued in on her nervous energy.He stiffened and let go of her, not turning around. Instead leaning against the cool door as Max’s brows furrowed and she lowered her arm slowly. The silence only interrupted by the creak of metal and the pitter patter of water in pipes. 

“We should go…” Max finally said, tugging on his sleeve, feeling every bit the lost child the act invoked. They walk in silence through the vault, their should-have-been safety. A terminal catched her eye in the kitchen as Ruby finds an empty duffel bag and fills it with the lonely stimpack and an old looking box of what she hopes is food. The entries are disheartening at best.

“Any good gossip?” Ruby asked, rifling through drawers and cupboards. 

“Science Team and Security Team couldn't play nice after a few months in this tin can. They left after Vault Tec abandoned them. Considering how close we were to the drop I’m surprised they believed there was anyone left to come for them.” Max said with a sigh, as something popped out of the terminal. “Oh and they had Red Menace.” she added, picking up the cartridge and pocketing it with only a moment of hesitation. 

“They’re clearly not gonna use it.” Ruby prompted as he put the bag over his shoulder and headed back for the door. A long hallway gave Max enough pause to stay behind Ruby as the man picked up a baton, flipping it expertly and flicking it out. “Looks like security left something for us.” Ruby said with a smile and Max looked past him.

“What...the fuck.” Max practically spat as a bug crawled down the wall. Ruby turned to look at her and then turned back to the bug. It looked like a roach, but no roach either of them had ever seen was quite that big. Or quite that angry looking. As it finally spotted them it hissed and charged. Max, surprised and afraid, gave a scream and jumped onto the bench as Ruby yelped before giving two good swings. 

Max felt the crunch as much as she heard. “Radiation.” she said through heavy breaths as Ruby grimaced at the goop on his new stick. He turned to where she was clutching her jacket and staring at the pile of crunched roach. Ruby raised an eyebrow as invitation to continue. “The radiation must’ve cause a mutation in the roach. I wonder how long it took. God exterminating bills must be enormous.” She said stepping down and sliding along the wall. 

Ruby just shook his head and handed her a second baton. She took it and the weight was oddly heavy in her arms. Her eyes lingered on the baton and Ruby turned for the door to power room with flashing arcs of lighting that lit the tunnel around them. “You think that's heavy, wait till we get you a gun.” 

“You think I’ll need one?” Max asks without hesitation, bullets and guns are as foreign to her as her scholastic achievements were to her farming parents. Ruby’s eyes flick to her again and he gives her a look that reminds her of the body they left behind and one that wasn't there. She grips the baton with both hands and bites her lips nervously. 

The skeleton they find at the other side of the room startled them both, Bleached white by exposure, there is no flesh and Max thinks of the dates in the terminal. “He’s been dead a while…More than a while.” Ruby says, almost startling Max. “I was a cop.” he says, The terminal data said he was a soldier. Max doesn't comment. 

The ‘Overseers’ Office is empty except for a skeleton holding a pistol. There’s another one but Ruby pockets that one too. Probably safer than giving the woman who has clearly never held one access to a firearm. He lets her access the terminal that will open their escape. More skeletons, this time with pip boys. Ruby doesn’t hesitate to take one while Max stares at the poor scientist lying on the floor. 

“You’re going to need that more than he will.” Ruby manages as he fiddles with his. She slips hers on after slowly pulling it off the rattlin bones with a grimace. When he’s still having trouble Max walks over and taps a few things on the screen. He smiles and Max pulls out the access cable on her ‘new’ pip-boy to open the door. 

Ruby hops the metal gate and Max follows with not nearly as much grace. The gate opens and they both rush to the elevator smacking the up button with more force than necessary. “Any idea what’s up there?” He asked as they slowly ascended in darkness only kept at bay by the dull green glow of his pipboy and her light blue one. Apparently the previous owner had a thing for nuka quantum. 

“More mutated animals, radiation, maybe a shower if we’re lucky.” Max says, hugging herself in the dark as the gears grinded in the background. 

“There was a shower in the barracks, at least we have a source of water.” Not that either one of them ever wanted to go back down there if they could help it. 

Any other conversation is cut short by light coming in through the now opening roof. The sunlight is brutal after their time in the dark and Max puts her hands over her glasses to shield her poor eyes and Ruby winces and squints in the light. “Holy shit.” He says, stepping forward off the platform first, looking at the ruined landscape around them. Civilization apparently has not had time to rebuild. The skyline is one of ruined buildings, the morning sun shining through clear holes in the buildings. Ruby’s eyes turn to Sanctuary Hills. “I used to live there…” he pauses and starts walking. “We should see if we can find someone.”

Max follows Ruby passed the skeletons at the gate, “I wonder what happened to the vault tec guy.” She hears him murmur as they pass over a reconstructed bridge. Someone was here, that gives Max a little hope. The street is ruined, some homes have caved in, others are shells. Every car is rusted through and Ruby pats one sitting in the street before a familiar voice makes him turn. 

“Codsworth?” He asks and the robot nearly bursts into tears. 

“Oh Master Nate thank god you’re here! Where’s Nora and Shaun?” Max listens to the exchange while sitting on the stoop of what she thinks used to be Ruby’s house. She can see the baby crib through the holes in the walls and she pulls her knees to her chest as Codsworth confirms its been over 200 years since they went into the vault. Strangely the panic doesn't come as she thinks it might have. Instead is the cold knowledge that everyone she loves, whether they survived the bombs dropping or not, is now dead. The air feels so warm in contrast she feels herself drifting off, she jolts when a hand sets on her shoulder. 

“Come on, more bugs, I think they’re a safe enough target to start with.” Ruby says gently and she wants to throw the gun away, but that won’t solve anything, so she lets him explain how to load it, how to cock it, and hands it to her with the safety off. Her heart pounds as he gestures to the street, but the explanations seem to be helping him stay calm in a way, so she keeps going. 

She can see a giant fly through the window, squeezing the trigger the first shot misses by the a mile, the fly at least hasn't noticed them so she fires two more times and sees the bug turn into a puff of goop. “Eww.” She says and Ruby tries not to think about how Max might react to human combatants. 

He all but refuses to fire at anything himself, letting her take out the bugs one after the other. Her arms dont stop shaking, but she learns to steady her hand. He manages to scrounge together more ammo and he tells Codsworth they’re heading to Concord. Max chews on the grilled radroach with less compliant than he expected, merely making a face before chowing down. He cooks the rest of the bugs as snacks for the road. Although cook is a generous term when you’re just putting it over a fire. 

“Should we be going anywhere at night?” she asks as they head over the bridge, Ruby doesn't really have an answer for her. Neither one of them has slept since that morning despite an obvious bone tiredness. But he still doesn't know just what kind of world is waiting for them, he’d like to think its kind. The truck stop, surprisingly, still has a light on. Max perks up a little. “Is that a dog?” she asks the air excitedly, as indeed, a beautiful german shepard walks over to her and Max wastes no time petting the thing. “Oh. no collar. Can we keep him?” she asks hugging him and Ruby makes a face. 

“He could have fleas.” Ruby says even as he leans over to pet the dog. They both feel the ground shake and several rats burst from the ground. “What the fuck.” she says as the dog jumps in front of her growling and leaping at one of them. Max scrambles for her pistol and makes sure it's properly loaded before promptly unloading into the small crowd of rats that charge her on the ground. Ruby is mildly surprised when she doesn’t end up shooting him or the dog. Her eyes are big and her mouth is in the shape of an ‘O’. 

“V.A.T.S.” she explains and he gives a low whistle. 

“We got the fancy stuff didn’t we?” he says, looking down at his pip boy and Max gets up. “Let’s stay here for the night, I guess you were right.” He grumbles and heads inside the garage. Closing the door. He locks the other doors and Max tries not to point out the still very broken window. Thankfully he’d had the forethought to scavenge a couple sleeping bags. Max doesnt think twice about sliding into one. Dogmeat follows and curls against her, his little face poking out. 

Ruby gives a snort and pulls out a lantern and lights it as the sun goes down, leaving it in the office with Max and the sleeping bags. “You’re not sleeping?” she asked and he stops at the door. 

“Not yet, I’ll wake you up when I need a couple winks.“ Ruby said and Max didnt know how to argue. Dogmeat settled in next to Max as she scooted closer to the wall. Sleep came out of sheer exhaustion and not Max’s mind managing to quiet down for more than a few moments. It was still dark when Ruby shook her gently, the dog yawning and whining a little as he got up and stretched. Max adjusted her glasses and sat up as Ruby simply flopped onto his sleeping bag. 

She assumed she was supposed to be keeping watch, so she pulled out her gun and laid it on the counter in front of her as her eyes adjusted to the dark. Dogmeat wandered around before coming back to settle at her feet, his ears showing just how alert he was despite how relaxed the rest of him appeared. Max sat there, staring into the darkness, too afraid to check her pip-boy and lose the little bit of night vision she had. 

Dawn came and she had never been more relieved. Rubbing at her eyes she stood up and stretched. Ruby walked out of their little hideaway with the bag over his shoulder and chewing on something. He handed her the other half of the grilled radroach and Max took it without fuss. Food was better than no food. At least it should be high enough in protein. God knew where they were going to get any veggies. 

Dogmeat barked and circled Ruby, who just laughed and tossed the dog some food. “Alright, time to hit the road. Concord was just around the corner last i checked.” He gestured to the smattering of houses up ahead. Max pulled the gun off the counter and wished she had some sort of holster to put it in. Clicking the safety on for now she followed Ruby down the ruined road. 

They heard the shots well before they saw anyone. Max almost doubled back, but Ruby headed straight for it and she fumbled for her gun as they peered around the corner in time to see people in ragged looking armor shoot down a man with a laser rifle. Ruby saw Max go pale, but she didn't look away. 

“Max. They need help Max.” He said gently and gestured ahead to the sandbags. “Stick to cover and just stick what you have to over it to fire. Here’s a stimpack, we’ve got a few now so I’m going to give you two. Do you know how to use it?” Ruby asked and Max nodded and clicked off the safety before she took off crouching behind the busy raiders. At least that's what they assumed the ragged looking people were. 

Luck helped Max snag the first kill on a man hiding behind a car. A clean headshot that sent gore to the concrete. Somehow his friends didn't hear and Ruby took the mans place, finding another stimpack sticking out of his pocket. Ruby popped the next couple raiders with expert marksmanship and Max peered over the barrier as someone up above shouted. “We’re pinned down in here, please help.” Ruby rushed forward after dogmeat who shot through the door and Max followed suit, stopping only to pick up a few ammo boxes the dead raiders had dropped. 

She entered and immediately gave a small shriek as a body hit the floor in front of her. Thankfully his friend was too busy shooting at a ducking Ruby to notice her and she took his head off with her pistol. “I think I’m going to be sick.” She said as Ruby tugged her down a side hall. 

“You can be sick all you want once there aren’t anymore people shooting at us.” He shouted as they turned a corner and found a raider just as surprised at their appearance as they were at his. Max gave another shriek and kicked out at the guy as he reached for his gun and Ruby shot him as he fell down into a pit leading to a lighted terminal. 

As Ruby headed up the stairs Max tugged on him. “Wait, I can-I can crack that.” she said, eyeing the fusion core. Which clearly had quite a bit of juice left for something left to rot for 200 years. Ruby glanced up the stairs but he’d only taken a step when he heard the familiar whirl of an unlocking terminal. Raising an eyebrow Max just tossed him the core, which he promptly shoved into his bag. 

Thankfully there weren’t many raiders left in their path to the trapped people. Still, Max was out of breath by the time they opened the door. Max wasted no time in finding a chair to sit down in. Dogmeat curling at her feet and she set the pistol down with shaking hands. 

Ruby approached the man in the hat who’d shouted for their help before. “Didn’t think Dusters were back in fashion.” he murmured as Preston adjusted his hat almost self-consciously. Introductions were made, and then Preston told Max and Ruby the full situation. As well as the one good thing they had going for them. 

“I really like the idea of a mini-gun on our team.” Max said, standing up and reloading her pistol with slow careful motions, as if she was still afraid it was going to go off in her hands. Sturges ran a hand through his hair and she didn’t miss the once-over. Boys. Honestly. He seemed to be holding up the best of the people in the room though. If these were her prospects she was probably going to die alone. 

The sound of the raiders got louder and thought occurred to Max that was probably going to be sooner rather than later. 

A hand on her shoulder almost made Max jump, but she was somehow already too tired to react. “Time to go, this way.” Ruby took off to the other end of the room and pick-up a cheesy looking bobble-head that made Max shake hers a little. For a moment she felt like complaining about the fact that they were the only ones walking out there, but the reality was they all looked as bad as she felt. 

Taking a deep breath she followed him to the roof and watched him put the fusion core in. “Alright, so you’re gonna hop in, and it's just like walking through molasses. But you’ll be as strong as an elephant.” He said tapping the back and letting it hang as open as her mouth was. 

“You want me to get into that thing?” she asked, her voice going a higher octave than was perhaps necessary. Ruby reloaded his gun. 

“You’ll be safer in there. I can aim without V.A.T.S. on so I need to be faster anyway. Besides, all the newbies say jumping off buildings was the best part of starting power armor training.” He explained as he slung the reloaded rifle over his shoulder and quickly reloaded the pistol for good measure. “I’ll wait until you’ve ripped off the mini-gun, and then I’ll run through the front door so do me a favor and mow down a couple so I can get to cover.” He said as she slowly stepped up into the armor. It closed around her and Max felt a weird sort of claustrophobia start to close in as well. 

“Wait, uh, how do I shoot a minigun?” she asked, voice distorted by the power armor. Ruby smiled. 

“Small bursts of fire, and when you run out of ammo beating them over the head with the thing should work just as well.” He explained just before she ripped the thing out of the downed vertibird. 

“Okay then…” she said simply as he disappeared and a raider spotted her. He shouted something to his friends and Max fired. Her arms were vibrating with the force of the gun even through the suit and she nearly dropped it. Thankfully a small rain of bullets was all it took for the one guy on the opposing roof to drop. 

Stepping slowly to the edge she was able to take out another two before they retreated back far enough she was going to have to jump. Max looked down at three floors below and would have taken a steadying breath if the weight of the armor set didn’t send her falling. Admittedly she screamed, she was getting very tired of screaming.

Thankfully she hit the ground feet first, cracking the pavement around her, and nearly colliding with the dead minuteman face first on the ground. Max wanted to puke and the only thing keeping the nausea at bay was the adrenaline keeping her heart pounding in her ears and the shaking of her arms as she lit up every raider she could see. 

God she just wanted to go home.


End file.
